England: A Bangladeshi takeaway boss has been convicted of attempting to recruit four girls aged between 12 and 16 into prostitution

Azad Miah, 44, was also found guilty at Carlisle Crown Court of running a brothel from his business and paying for the sexual services of teenagers. The owner of the former Spice of India restaurant had denied all charges. He was found guilty of inciting four girls into prostitution. He was also convicted of paying for the sexual services of two girls. The court was told that the married father-of-four hounded and stalked the girls to try to persuade them to have sex for money. He was described as carrying out a cold, clinical exploitation of the desperate and vulnerable, targeting girls with drug or alcohol addictions, or with troubled backgrounds. The jury heard that one girl complained to police about Miah persistently harassing her in 2008, three years before he was arrested, but gave up when no action was taken. Miah came from Bangladesh to England with his family in 1982, married his Bangladeshi wife seven years later, and opened the Spice of India in 2000. The restaurant and takeaway in Botchergate is now operating with new owners and a new name. Miah was convicted of paying one girl for sex a number of times when she was aged between 15 and 17. She used the money to fund her heroin addiction. Another 15-year-old - whom he incited into prostitution - was paid £80 for sex after being told on her first day of work at the takeaway that she could make big money.